Politics

Today Log Cabin Republicans announced that in the wake of denial of formal participation by gay Republicans at this year’s Texas State Republican Convention, they would be joining Metroplex Republicans to hold a press conference on Thursday, May 29 at 12 Noon at Fort Worth Convention Exhibit Hall (1201 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102, 12th Street Atrium under the Texas Star) to denounce the Party’s stance against the organization.

"Overall, Log Cabin Republicans of Texas has found incredible support within the Republican party - Texans, like the rest of the country, are evolving on LGBT rights issues," said Log Cabin Republicans of Texas Chairman Jeffrey Davis. "The Republican Party of Texas has even welcomed many of our members as delegates to the Texas State Republican Convention. However, the party has denied our several attempts to host a booth in the convention exhibit hall, citing archaic language in the party platform to support their actions. We deserve to occupy a booth just like anyone else, and it’s time that the Texas GOP’s hypocritical policies and procedures are replaced by new ones that match the general opinion of Texan Republican voters."

This press conference takes place 16 years after Log Cabin Republicans was similarly denied participation at the Texas State GOP’s Convention, an exclusion that was famously chronicled at the time in the mini-documentary "On the Front Lines," which you can view at this link.

It’s simply unconscionable that more than a dozen years since Log Cabin Republicans took the fight for gay equality against the homophobic fringe of the Party, the Texas State GOP still doesn’t get it. We are your friends and neighbors; we are your colleagues and family members; above all else, we are loyal Republicans, and deserve a literal seat at the table at the Texas State GOP Convention.

Make no mistake: This isn’t about disagreements we may have on civil marriage; this isn’t about the party platform - this is about an anti-gay wing of the party that hates gay people so much they can’t even stand to see us acknowledged as a necessary part of a winning Republican coalition. At a time when Democrats are working overtime to turn Texas from red to purple and then a vibrant blue, now is not the time for the politics of subtraction and division in the GOP; it is time for addition and multiplication. The Texas State GOP and its leadership ignore that advice at their peril.